Aftermath
by Legacyofmorons
Summary: Things didn't go as planned in the final fight with Gaea, and now the gods are left hopeless. Will our hero be able to bring back some hope, or will Western Civilization finally perish at the hands of the Earth Mother?
1. World's End

In an inconspicuous facility in an unknown occasion, a young man lay on a bed, medical equipment attached to many different parts of his body. The man had no marks or blemishes on a body. He didn't look like he was required to be in the medical bay. He simply looked like he was sleeping.

However, his fitful sleep was coming to an end.

**Unknown POV**

What is that noise?

That incessant beeping noise?

I tried opening my eyes, but it seemed almost glued shut. I tried opening my mouth to make a sound, but it wouldn't open. I tried moving my arms, legs, neck, an nothing. My whole body was stiff and sore.

Painstakingly, I opened my eyes, giving myself time to adjust to the dim light of the room I was in.

Question arises – what room was this? Where am I?

I looked around me and saw myself attached to numerous medical equipment. I didn't have a clue what any of them were for, but that wasn't the most striking aspect of what I saw.

I wasn't in a hospital. I could tell that much. I was in a metal room. The sole occupant of the room was me, and the room was empty except for my bed and medical equipment.

I looked around confused.

How did I get here?

I tried to remember the last place I was, and the last thing I did, but I couldn't remember anything. Vague flashes of bright lights and heavy clanging noises. Even thinking of the memories gave me a headache, and I shook my head from the dizziness. Sadly, the shaking head part hurt really bad. I was still too stiff.

Wait. Those noises, that image, the last thing he remembered was standing in the Acropolis ready to fight the Giants. I racked my brain trying to figure out what happened.

I suddenly looked around me with a different viewpoint. Where was I? The question arose again. It didn't look like Olympus, or the Camp infirmary. Which only left one question.

Was I captured? What happened to the final battle? Because if we lost, then I would be dead, wouldn't I?

One thing I knew for sure. I had to get out of here.

I slowly rose from my sleeping position, making sure not to exert myself too much. I carefully extracted myself from all of the equipment and stood up. A task that took me almost ten minutes to do so. I checked my pocket and was relieved to find that my trusty Riptide was still with me. I took a while to stretch myself out. I had to rid myself of the soreness if I was to get myself out of here.

Finally, when I felt in a decent state to at least move around comfortably, I walked towards the door of my room. I held Riptide in my hand, ready to uncap it in a moment's notice.

I peeped through the small window in the door and found the hallway in front of me completely deserted. I reached towards the door handle, and surprisingly turned it.

Who doesn't lock up a prisoner?

Sneaking outside the room, I found myself in a corridor made of the same steely material of my room. There were dim lights shedding light onto the hallway.

Good. At least he wouldn't be seen too easily.

And that was where I made my fatal mistake. Never jinx your situation.

As soon as I turned a corner, I bumped into another man. I panicked and fled in the other direction. I was in no state to fight and would go down too easily if I was challenged.

I dashed down a random corridor and continued to change where I was going in a hope that I could escape my pursuer, because you could be damn well sure that the man was following me.

I should still know that things didn't often go my way. I overestimated my body's condition, and I ended up tripping over my own clumsy foot while running.

Falling over, I bashed my head against the ground and lay face up towards the ceiling, my vision flickering in and out, threatening to plunge me back into unconsciousness.

The man had caught up and was staring down at me. All I could make up from him was that he had a mop of blond hair on his head. My sight was too blurry to make out the rest. I could tell that he was trying to tell me something, but I was already on the brink of unconsciousness, and the last thing I remember before blacking out was another man joining the first and carefully lifting me into his arms.

**Time skip**

Once again, I found myself in the same situation as earlier. I opened my eyes and found myself in the same bed, in the same room, with the same equipment attached to me. The only difference this time is that there was a throbbing pain in my forehead from where I hit myself while falling.

I looked around me again, and this time found that there was indeed something else different this time. I wasn't alone in the room. The same blond man from before was eyeing me carefully. Now that I got a closer look at him, he seemed familiar, but I couldn't place him.

"Where am I?" I managed to croak out, "Who are you?"

The man gave a grim smile, "I know I've changed, but you should know when the best-looking dude you've ever met is standing in front of you"

I frowned, and then it dawned on me.

"Apollo" I whispered.

He nodded. Apollo was not how he once looked though. He was not the radiant, tall 17-year-old man with the blinding white smile. He looked like a man in his mid-thirties, with slightly greying hair and a beaten down expression. He looked…dull. I didn't think I'd ever see that.

"Where am I?" I asked again.

"You're in an underground base. A facility that we found abandoned" came the reply from Apollo.

I frowned, confused, "Why would we be in a facility? Why not on Olympus?"

The small smile on Apollo's face immediately faded, and he gave me a grim look.

"You've been out for a while Percy. A lot has changed since then"

"Wait" I interrupted, "How long was I out?" I asked.

Apollo didn't reply. Instead he reached behind him and pulled out a mirror. He held it up to be and I gasped.

Looking back at me from the mirror was a face I was unaccustomed to. My shaggy black hair was longer and reached down until my shoulder. I had a small beard growing on my face. More than anything, I looked old. Not old as in forty, but definitely in my mid-twenties.

I looked back towards Apollo with absolute shock.

"How…..how long was I out?" I croaked.

He looked at me with pity in his eyes, "7 years"

I sat there, gaping at the god in front of me, completely wordless to the statement I just received. 7 years. I couldn't believe what I heard.

"What….what happened in that time? The last thing I remember is getting knocked out in the battle at the Acropolis?" I asked.

A pained expression came across his face, "It's not something that I like to recount.."

"Then let me do it" A new voice said.

I looked towards the door and saw a woman standing there, leaning against the doorsill. She had auburn hair and looked in her mid-thirties, just like Apollo.

"Thanks sis. I don't think I could get through the explanation" Apollo said to the woman, I now identified as Artemis.

She walked towards my bed and sat herself in a chair she brought in from outside, while Apollo sat at the end of my bed.

She closed her eyes for a minute and then looked at me with her piercing silver eyes.

"It is probably best if I just come out and say the worst news right away. We lost"

I looked at her in fear. I refused to believe it. We couldn't have lost. There was no way.

"Then why aren't we…."

"Dead?" Artemis finished, "we probably would be if everything had gone as planned for Gaea. As soon as you were knocked out, the blood of Olympus was spilled from the son of Mars and the daughter of Athena. The Earth Mother awoke, and we were no match for her strength"

She sighed and shook her head, "She immobilized us all, and was ready to slay the gods. She managed to do so for Dionysus. The old drunkard faded. Before any more damage could be done, Hecate cast a spell that bound each and every one of the Olympian's life force to our thrones on Olympus. A temporary fix if you ask me"

"A temporary fix made more stable after" Apollo quietly added from the side, "Knowing that above all was the safety of the gods, Hestia used her powers as the final Guardian of Olympus to create a shroud of protection over Olympus. The strain was too much though, and she…"

Apollo broke down and started sobbing.

"Forgive my brother. Hestia was always his favorite Aunt, as she was for all of us. She sacrificed her life in order to give a last protection from Olympus" Artemis said, "That wasn't enough though. If there was one more aspect that everyone had finally learnt in the end, was that the ones to be protected were you. You seven demigods.

The prophecy could not be fulfilled without you and without you, Gaea would never be defeated, so for the first time, the 5 remaining children of Kronos and Rhea came together and pooled in their power. The six remaining demigods had already been immobilized by Gaea's powers, and were sure to be killed, so the 5 gods used all of their powers to make you seven heroes immortal. Finally, they banished the rest of the gods present away, and in the process, we were able to grab you, since you were unconscious, and not held by an earthy prison"

"What happened to the other six then? And what about the eldest gods?" I asked

"The six heroes were captured. But worst of all…. the gods are gone" Artemis replied, "All of the eldest and most powerful gods faded due to the amount of power they used. Now, we sit in this facility, cowering because of the lack of power we possess. The rest of us are crippled in our powers and severely weakened"

"And…. what about the world? What's the plan now? How are we going to take back the world and save the human population?" I asked with anticipation and unease.

Artemis rose and beckoned me to follow her as she heads outside the door. I got up and followed her, Apollo trailing behind to make sure I was stable. I followed her into an elevator, and we all made our way to the ground level. As we stepped outside, Artemis stood next to a window and gestured for me to look outside.

"We might have a plan, but we can only hope that there is a human population to save" she said, as I gazed out in hopelessness at the barren land in front of me.

_**Hey people. I had an idea and I just had to go with it. I have a slight idea of where this story is going, and I hope that I can stick with it and see it through. Review your thoughts and follow if you want to see where this story is going. I'll see you guys in the next chapter.**_


	2. The Big Three

I followed the two gods in front of me through the myriad of hallways and corridors, however, I was still too shocked to speak. Every demigod was brought up with the knowledge that when we fought, we fought for our lives, and for the lives of every human on the planet.

As soon as we knew that a Primordial was after us, we were scared. That was without a doubt. But there was always hope. Some part of our brains thought that it would turn out just like the war against Kronos. That we would still beat the odds and win. But to see the truth?

No.

It was too heartbreaking. I never thought I'd actually see the end of the world, and more than that actually live through it. But…. Oh God!

All those who sacrificed themselves in the Titan War – Bianca, Zoe, Beckendorf, Selena, Lee, Ethan, Luke…. I never thought that there was ever a chance that their sacrifices would be in vain. To think that they put their lives on the line for a victory that was so…... temporary. It was too harsh to think about.

As I kept walking, I ended up bumping into someone in front of me. I looked up to realize that we had stopped in front of a doorway.

The twin gods turned towards me, and Apollo spoke, "Don't be shocked by what you see inside. It is merely how things are now, and the best that can be managed with the current situation"

Artemis opened the door and I braced myself for whatever horror stood in the room in front of me, and when I gazed upon the room, I saw…. People. Men and women. Granted not too many, but it wasn't a horrific view.

Sitting around a table in the center of the room, were 2 men and 3 women. One was a blond-haired woman with dull grey eyes, and another woman, who looked extremely pale with sunken sky-blue eyes and untamed brown hair, and the last woman had pitch black hair with gray streaks running through it. Looking over to the men, I saw a bald man with scars running all over his face, and pith glasses covering his eyes from view, and lastly a man with an untamed beard, wearing a leg brace.

Wait a second…..

Is this really…. Am I really seeing?

In front of me lay the Olympian Gods.

I couldn't really comprehend what was in front of me. The almighty Gods who ruled the world sat in front of me as old and defeated, well humans. When I expected to see the gods, I expected them to at least look like Artemis and Apollo, but they looked much worse.

I raised my eyebrow towards the twin gods, expecting an answer for this, and Artemis spoke, "We may be alive thanks to Hestia's sacrifice, but that doesn't mean to say we have much power left. My brother and I retain some of our power, at least to be a little more powerful than the demigods. However, the others? They do not have enough power from their domains. The sun and moon are eternal, and Gaea would not dare disrupt the natural cycle to such an extent"

She gestured towards the remaining gods, "Their domains have been close to decimated. The only reason Aphrodite is still with us is because of Hestia's sacrifice, else she would have faded along with Dionysus"

She gestured towards the woman with the sunken face and brown hair, and I was shocked. That was Aphrodite? At least all of the other gods actually looked something like themselves from when they were in power, but the goddess of beauty was, well not very beautiful right now. Without that much love in the world, she must be barely holding on.

She looked towards Athena, and gestured for her to speak, "Maybe Athena would like to explain our situation right now to the newly awakened?"

Athena sighed, and spoke, "Well Perseus, as you can see, the gods you see around you are the only ones left, or at least as much as we know. We have yet to discover any gods still surviving outside of these bounds. The final sacrifice of the eldest gods is all that hides us from Gaea's view. I am not one to speak of the hopelessness of our situation, but I must say it looks quite bleak. This hideout is where we were sent to by the eldest gods, and it is where we've been hiding out ever since. I would say that it is the main base of operations for Olympus now, but the truth is we don't have much of an operation"

I couldn't help but agree with that. With only 7 beings of average power, they were in no conditions to take on Gaea's army or even put a dent in it. But one more important question suddenly came to mind, and I was ashamed that I hadn't asked of it before all of this.

"You may not have much of an operation here" I said, "But what about your past operation? What about the-the demigods?" I asked, my eyes pleading for any good news about my closest friends.

All of the gods' eyes suddenly turned downcast, as Apollo whispered, "We don't know. Our children are out of our radar, and we have no idea if they're in hiding, or….." he didn't need to finish. The message was clearly given. The demigods may not be alive. The rest of the seven and I may as well be the last demigods.

"And the hunters? The amazons? What about them?" I continued, hoping for any good news.

"If you think I had any news of my hunters, do you think I would be here?" Artemis shouted, tears pooling in the edges of her eyes, "As of now, you and the other seven are the only remaining demigods. We can only hope that the rest of my fellow gods' children are still alive"

"That is the state we have been put in now" Athena continued, "We are unable to leave this base even for the smallest time, even to search for our children. The only one able to do so is Hermes – which is why you don't see him here now. His skill set is the only way we are able to gain any intel on Gaea and her plans. The one main advantage we have found out, is that Gaea thinks most of us dead. The outcome of Hestia's sacrifice remains unknown by her or her giants. Since Olympus still stands, she has her suspicions of a few gods in hiding, but no more than 2 or 3…"

She was interrupted by a growling noise. Looking alert, all able-bodied gods quickly drew their weapons. Everyone was tense, until a second growling noise was emitted again. This time the source of the growl was clear as they all turned to look at me expectedly.

I smiled sheepishly as I said, "I'm sorry. I haven't had anything to eat for about 7 years"

Athena groaned and hit her forehead against the table, "You and your dim-witted father are the same. Without food in your stomachs you both are useless"

She looked up towards the bearded man I assumed was Hephaestus and asked, "Can you heat up some food for this imbecile?"

The Fire God nodded as he grabbed a frozen taco from a fridge in another room and gave it a small burst of fire. He handed me the now steaming hot taco and I snarfed it down fast. It felt good to have food in my stomach, though some part of me was a bit disappointed that it wasn't blue.

"Anyway, as I was saying" Athena continued, "our current situation is thus. Most of us gods are unable to fight well. We would only stand for backup. Our only able-bodied fighters right now, are you, Apollo and Artemis. Right now, the most important objective we have is getting you back in shape. You are our secret weapon now. Gaea suspects you dead, and loath as I am to admit it, you are stronger than any one of us here as a close-up swordsman. Your training comes first now"

Athena, having finished her long monologue, rested her head back and started massaging her temples. She gestured towards the bald man sitting opposite her, and he grinned a ruthless smile.

"Alright punk, let's get to work" Ares said, "I'll make sure that you rue the fact that you're still alive"

Athena gave a small cough and glared at Ares, "If I can put away my rivalry with Perseus' father, than you can put away your pathetic grudge with the boy so that we can get out of this hellhole and live the rest of our immortal lives in peace"

Ares grumbled, and said, "Fine. Come on punk, we got a lot of work ahead of us"

He got up and left the room, and I followed, knowing the hell that was about to follow.

**Time Skip**

8 months was a hell of a long time to train. Ares grilled me hard the entire time. There were no breaks, no rest, no time for any sort of slacking. With my now immortal body, I felt new strength coursing through my veins, and I put it to use in a single-minded thought process – train. I was completely out of shape when I started, and Ares used the first month to get me into shape. He was basically the most ruthless and cruel gym trainer you would've ever seen. It took some time for my body to get used to the strain, but once I got used to my new immortal body, he pushed me until I mastered my new strength.

But that was only the tip of the iceberg. As soon as we finished fitness, we moved on to the sword. And during these months, I realized, that I sucked. That first year that I fought Ares, he wasn't even trying. All my moxie that I showed towards the War God disappeared. The man was legendary. Even in his weakened form, he kicked my ass in every shape and form.

Everything he knew, he passed on to me in the many months he trained me. The plethora of techniques that I knew dwarfed my talents in the past. But I could only hope that I knew enough. How ever strong Ares was, in his most powerful form, he was still easily immobilized by Gaea. And so, I kept training. It came up to the point where I could beat Ares one or two times in a brawl. Though, he still beat me the other fifty times. I wasn't satisfied though, so I kept training.

I wasn't the only one who had this mindset though. The two other gods, who I had come to call friends in these past few months pushed themselves harder than ever. Apollo and Artemis trained day and night, like me to push themselves further than they ever had in their millennia of living. Sometimes we sparred together, sometimes we fought with battle plans. We practiced sieges and infiltration. I really couldn't fathom that Apollo would ever be as serious as he was right now.

However, one day our 8-month streak of continuous training was broken.

The three of us made our way towards the main meeting room where often the gods (and I, as I seemed to be one of them now) would often meet up. As we entered the room, I counted the usual gods lounging in the different seats. However, this time the head count came up different. It was one more. A sandy haired man with blue eyes and a sharp nose sat in another chair.

Hermes had returned.

The god looked tired, but not in the same way that the others were. He looked weary of travel. And if the God of travelers was this tired, I didn't want to know what could have happened.

"Hermes" Apollo exclaimed as he walked over and gave his womanizing buddy a hug

"Enough Apollo" Artemis said, "You will have your time to reconcile with him after. But first we must hear his accounting"

She turned towards Hermes and said, "Welcome back. As you can see, this dunderhead behind me…" she said as she motioned towards me, "Has woken up. But nothing else has happened on our end. Please tell us that some information has come to light on your end"

Hermes smiled, an actual hopeful smile. A sight I never thought I'd see again.

"I have" he said simply, as the entire mood of the room changed. Every god in the room was instantly alert. Everyone waited with bated breath for any news that could be delivered by the returned god.

"I've found one of them" he said with a smile. A cheer could be heard from everyone in the room. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. After this much time, after these many years (even though I was in a coma for most of them), Olympus finally had hope.

"Who?" I blurted out right away, too excited to care about anything else.

"Leo Valdez, the son of Hephaestus" he said.

"You found my son?" Hephaestus said immediately. I saw tears dripping down his face and getting lost in his beard.

Hermes nodded as chatter started. Every god started shouting and asking questions to Hermes.

"ENOUGH!" Athena shouted. Immediately the chatter subsided. She looked amongst the gathered beings and said, "We now have a goal. We have an aim. Each and every one of us have our jobs now. I'll coordinate with Hermes to figure out a plan to rescue the demigod. Ares, you need to continue the training. Push him harder than ever, because you know what comes next"

Ares nodded and looked towards me with a gleam in his eye, he no longer hates me either, but I still think he looks at me like a project that needs finishing.

"Hephaestus, armor. They're going to need it" Athena continued.

He nodded and said, "Anything to save my son"

'And you three" Athena said as she turned towards Apollo, Artemis and I, "The world once had a Big Three, and now they are gone. Go now, and train as hard as you can, so that when everything is ready, you can go forth and save the son of Hephaestus. Open the floodgates and show the world that the new Big Three is here"

_**Hey guys. How was the new chapter? Make sure to leave your comments as a review, it really helps.**_

_**One more thing, I'm looking for a beta for this story. Anyone who thinks that they might be interested in betaing for this story please PM me. It would be really helpful.**_

_**See you guys next time.**_


	3. Travels of the Trio

Have I ever expressed my distaste for travelling?

It's like when you eat too many pizzas in one day and don't want to see the thing the next.

You'd understand how for once I'd like to NOT be on a quest.

That's how it had been for the past few days. Apollo, Artemis and I travelling in relative silence towards the location of the base, and let me tell you, that travelling all over Greece on foot is no easy task.

Artemis at least seemed to be in her element. She was a psycho when it came to travel, and every time we asked her to slow down, she would grumble about 'lazy males'.

Don't get me wrong, these two gods had formed a weird friendship with me. Apollo was easier – though he wasn't the same laidback god he was the first time I saw him; he was still a pretty chill guy and easy to get along with. Artemis, well I assume from the fact that I didn't have an arrow sticking through my genitals that she accepted my presence.

The days passed us with a relatively normal routine. Artemis would run ahead (because there was no way Apollo and I could keep up with her), and she would find us a safe place to set up camp for our breaks. I guess this kind of alone time gave me some leeway into establishing a friendship with the sun god.

All of this came back to a general plan that we (read Athena) had come up with. Before we had left for our travels, Athena sat us all down and told us what we'd have to do. For now, we still had no idea of the layout of the place. It was all Hermes could do just to find out where it was. Through the still burning Hearth of Olympus, the remaining Olympians could maintain a mental link to one another.

The general plan would be that once we arrived at the stronghold, we would scout out the place, and send back mental images to Athena, where she would formulate a strategy to infiltrate the base. Not much of a plan to begin with, but it at least gave us something to focus on.

I have to be honest when I say that these travels had let my mind wander than ever before, and that was never a good thing. Having the stupid loyal brain that I had, my mind only wandered to my missing friends. Hermes had embarked on his mission only a day or two before we had left the base, but I still couldn't help but wonder. They were my friends, my comrades.

You just can't fight in a war with people and not expect there to be a bond formed. But when I had heard that they might not be there anymore? No. It was too much to bear.

I sighed. There was no point pondering over things I had no control over. If Hermes finds them, he finds them. I had my own duty to do. Leo, Jason, Piper, Haze, Frank, and…Annabeth.

I blinked back a tear when I thought of her. I missed everything about her. The way she tucked her blond curls behind her ear, the way she gave me that cold glare whenever I said something stupid, and the way she would hug me no matter what happens, because when we were together, nothing could go wrong. But something did go wrong. And that was something he would avenge.

Annabeth had searched for me for the entire time I was asleep in California. She searched day and night while I was in a peaceful sleep. And now, I was the one searching, but I had no delusions that Gaea would allow Annabeth a restful sleep, or any of the other five for that matter. The only thing I could do was push forward.

A voice broke me out of my thought as I looked to my right and found Apollo looking at me.

"What's on your mind?" he asked.

I sighed, "what do you think? Every quest I went on, I knew that the world was somewhat at stake, but I never thought that I would ever be on a quest where there already might not be a world existing to save? I guess I just miss my friends"

I didn't want to lay it on thick. Apollo himself had just been getting better over the past few days. He started to become cheery again, and I didn't want to be the one to put him back into his depressed mood.

"Aww come on Perce. You know what's gonna happen. We're gonna save all the demigods, go to Olympus, get our thrones back, and kick Gaea's butt six ways from Sunday. You know why? Cause Apollo's here!"

I facepalmed. Leave it to Apollo to make saving the world sound so easy.

As we continued walking, I saw a silver figure standing in a clearing up ahead.

Artemis looked bored as she stood there, tapping her feet in annoyance at our slow pace.

"Could you insufferable males be any slower? We will never reach the stronghold at this snail-like pace you have set for us" she snarled in annoyance.

I sighed. Though she had become relatively indifferent to Percy, there was only so much she could take when travelling with two members of the gender she hated.

"Oh, come on sis" Apollo replied, "You know we can't be as fast as you. Neither of us spent our entire lives traveling with a bunch of maidens at breakneck speed. We spent our lives being awesome!"

I snorted, "Speak for yourself Apollo. I just want to get out of this mess and live a happy normal life. Something I haven't been able to do since I was twelve"

Artemis grumbled in annoyance, "I don't care. You both know the drill. Apollo start the campfire; Perseus set up the tents, and I'll go find us some food"

I groaned, "Come on Artemis! You've told me to drop the 'Lady' nonsense, and I have. Why won't you stop calling me Perseus?"

Artemis ignored me and instead bounded into the nearby forest to catch some game.

"Give her some time Perce" Apollo said, "only reason she can stand being next to me is because I'm her twin. She wouldn't want me near her otherwise. You'll just have to get used to it"

I frowned and turned towards him, "But doesn't it effect you?" I asked, "I mean you guys are twins. Doesn't it hurt when she acts like that towards you?"

Apollo gained a far away look in his eyes, "You know, back before we joined Olympus, we lived for a while with our mother on Delos. We were as close as siblings should be. We looked after each other, and she acted like the older sister she really is, caring for me whenever mom wasn't around, and I grew to love my sister for it.

You see, when we joined Olympus, and were made Olympians, Artemis got her hunt, and I was suddenly replaced. We hardly talked anymore, and every time I came near her, just to be with my sister again, she always thought I was after her hunters. Granted I agree that I'm a huge lady's man, but it seemed like that was the only side that Arty focused on anymore"

He looked at me with saddened eyes, "I gave up after time. My sister would never see me as more than just an annoying male that she has to deal with, and I guess I'm fine with that now"

I looked at him with an expressionless face. I mean, I'm not that good with emotional stuff! I had no clue what to do. So, I just pat Apollo's back and said, "Well, whatever you need, I'm here. I'm your cousin and I'm here for you"

Sounded pretty empty to me, but Apollo just gave a small grin and said, "Aww come on. Are we really just cousins? I thought we were more than that. I thought we were bros!"

I laughed and then bumped his fist, "Yeah fine we're bros. Now let's get moving with our stuff so Artemis doesn't kick our butts for being 'derelict in our duties' again"

Once we had set up everything, and Artemis had returned, we sat quietly around the fire, eating some deer that Artemis had caught. The silence was a bit annoying, but I didn't want to say anything for fear of being cut down by the moon goddess beside me. I mean she can be one terrifying lady sometimes!

But out of nowhere, there was a slight rustling sound, and immediately, all of us had our weapons drawn. I had pulled out riptide, while Apollo and Artemis pulled out a gold and silver bow respectively. We waited in silence, until a roar was heard and eight black shadow like figures landed around us. Great black mastiffs growling at us with red beady eyes and salivating mouths – Hellhounds.

All at once, we lunged at the monsters and started to fight them. The three of us fought like a well-oiled machine, covering each other and coordinating strikes to take down our foes. I almost got slashed up by two claws, which were both blocked by a short gold sword and a silver hunting dagger, while I whirled around and slashed at another hellhound creeping up from behind and killed it.

After time, we had reduced the number of monsters, to just 2. I ran at one of them, while the archery gods behind me kept them hellhounds moving with their arrows, and beheaded one of them that wasn't paying attention to me I faced the other one, and as I was about to strike it in the head, a gold arrow latched itself to the beast's eye and it exploded into golden dust.

I glared at Apollo as he shrugged, "Can't let you have all the glory bro"

I sighed. This hadn't been a new occurrence. Granted that it didn't happen everyday it was still annoying. The only conciliation we had is that, none of the monsters were able to escape. Our supposed biggest advantage was that Gaea didn't know I was alive, and thanks to the sacrifice of the Children of Kronos, Gaea couldn't track us or keep an eye on us. We were invisible to her eye.

We went back and fixed up the camp, and as night fell upon us, we went to sleep in our respective tents, as we readied ourselves for the next day, and hoped that we could keep this all up and save the world.

_**Hey there guys! More of an interlude chapter, but I didn't want to rush the story too much.**_

_**Few things I thought I'd clear up. This story's main characters will be Percy, Apollo and Artemis, so there will be major character development surrounding these three as I'll be focusing on them the most.**_

_**Also, in response to a review, this will NOT be a Pertemis story. They'll just become very good friends and nothing more. Percy's significant other will still remain Annabeth.**_

_**Feel free to post you comments in a review or PM me if you have any questions**_

_**See you guys next time!**_


	4. Plans and Preparations

A whistling sound, and then

THUMP

"You better be faster than that Perseus" Artemis taunted as she readied another arrow to fire.

I groaned and got up again, trying and failing to completely dodge the tiny missiles the goddess was sending my way.

Let me tell you, that this is by far the worst training exercise I have ever gone through. Not as much because it doesn't help me or that it gives me more hardship, but just that smug look that comes on to Artemis' face every time she fired. Something about agility training, and that I was a 'bumbling oaf' and that I couldn't keep up with her even if she was going 'as slow as Hercules' brain'.

I grumbled as I quickly jumped out of the way of another arrow.

But, being me, I didn't see that she had fired two arrows at once and had the second one hit me in the gut. The arrows were blunted, but it still hurt like a bitch.

I grunted in pain as I tumbled ass down onto the ground from the momentum of the arrow. I mumbled curses at the goddess and looked up to see her eyebrows raised as she evidently heard my curses.

Apollo stood in the sidelines, since apparently being a god for millennia on end gave him the skills he needed, though I bet he'd get hit by the arrows more than I did.

"I think that's enough for today lil' sis. Looks like Perce is beaten up good" Apollo said and flinched as soon as Artemis turned her glare towards him for calling her the little sister.

"Hmph" she grunted, "I suppose that's enough. Though if our future relies on you Perseus, I would hope you would be more willing and able to undergo training"

With that her bow disappeared and she walked away.

"Sheesh" I said, "She really has a thing against guys, doesn't she?"

Apollo just shrugged and walked back towards their temporary camp.

Back at the camp, Artemis and Apollo sat in silence around the fire that we (read Apollo) had started. As I sat down, Artemis spoke

"We are getting closer, maybe a day or two more at this snail's pace we are keeping with, so get some rest. We will all have to be in top firm for what's coming"

Groaning, I got up and made my way over to my tent, and before stepping in, asked Apollo if he could send a message over to Hermes and ask him to hotwire a car somewhere. Cause seriously. I do not like running.

Two days later, and guess what? We were still running!

I mean, I guess we were getting closer, at least that's what Artemis keeps saying, and as the goddess of the hunt I'm pretty sure her tracking skills were about a thousand times better than mine or Apollo's.

After a point, we started to slow down, until Artemis held up a fist and we slowed to a halt.

"Be quiet and follow me" she hissed as she started creeping through a dense foliage to our right.

Apollo and I followed her, sneaking through the mini forest until we reached a small clearing, which was…...empty.

"Ummm what are we supposed to be seeing?" I asked, confused.

"This is the location that Hermes mentioned" Artemis mentioned

"Ask Athena" Apollo replied, "Hermes must have given her more details about the base"

Artemis nodded and then went silent. She cocked her head, as if listening to something and then nodded and spoke, "Athena says that the base is cloaked by magic. Hermes was able to gather the intel about the base, but I think it best we consult Hecate about this"

"Wait a second" I cut in, "Hecate is still there? I thought only the Olympians remained"

"Nope" Apollo said, "She was with us in that final battle against Gaea, and though she doesn't have a throne and the same protection we Olympians do, she was still whisked away to the base with us"

"How come I never saw her then?" I asked

"She exhausted herself binding our life forces to our thrones" Artemis said, "She's been resting ever since. But she's been in and out of consciousness as she pleases. I've just asked Aphrodite to go wake her up"

"Ok good. Keep us updated. Also, why are you the only one who contacts the rest? Why doesn't Apollo do it?" I asked

Artemis snorted, "That's because my idiotic brother is vain and stupid"

I turned to Apollo and raised an eyebrow, and he 'humphed' and responded, "My voice gets garbled when I speak mentally. I'm a musician. My voice can't be anything but perfect"

I facepalmed. Have I ever mentioned that Apollo can be a huge child?

Suddenly Artemis looked alert, "It's Hecate" she said as Apollo and I waited intensely for her to continue, "She says that any form of cloaking can't be too advanced because they don't have any expert magic users, so I need to draw a rune on all of us that will allow us to see through the woven mist"

She then walked around for a bit and picked up a stick. She knelt down and slowly started carving something into the ground.

I leaned towards Apollo and whispered, "Dude, what's she doing?"

He cocked his head for a second ad whispered back, "Hecate's teaching her how to draw the rune"

I nodded and we stood silently watching Artemis have a go at the rune. It took a while.

We had to move to a completely different patch of sand because there were so many failed attempts where we were before.

Finally, Artemis rose up and called us over from our intense match of rock-paper-scissors.

Apollo claimed he could've won, but that was just wishful thinking.

We went over to where Artemis was standing and then looked at her final sketch. Looked really simply, but it must've been really hard to draw. Either that or Artemis really sucked at drawing.

I think I'll keep that thought to myself.

I value my genitals.

It was an eye, but instead of an eyeball, it had some weird swirly design to it.

Artemis conjured a pen in her hands and turned towards us and proceeded to draw said rune on our cheeks, and I think Apollo and I agreed on the fact that she stressed the pen considerably harder than was necessary on our cheeks.

She then handed me the pen and stood there waiting. I looked down at the pen and then looked back up at her and then turned towards Apollo with a questioning look.

Apollo shrugged.

Artemis groaned, "You idiot. I need someone to draw the rune on me. I can't very well draw it on my own face"

Right. Yeah, that's my bad. I rushed on over to Artemis who stood there glaring at me, as I carefully copied the rune from the ground onto her cheek. Though she did punch me in the gut for pressing too hard at one point.

Once we all had the runes drawn, we turned towards Artemis again and waited while she finished talking with Hecate.

"Ichor" Artemis said, "Just a drop of ichor on the rune to activate it"

While Artemis and Apollo dabbed their ichor onto their cheeks from incisions made in their finger, I still looked down on my hands.

I took out riptide and made a small cut on my forefinger. And I stared at the new liquid pooling out of my body. It was the first time I had really seen it, and it really struck me.

I was immortal. I would live forever until I faded.

The golden ichor of the gods trickled slowly out of the small cut I had made on my finger, and I just stood there watching the new component of my body.

I small cough bumped me out of my stupor as I looked up at the two gods waiting for me expectedly, the runes on their cheeks slightly glowing a golden hue.

I dabbed the ichor onto the rune on my cheek, and I felt it heat up slightly, until the area in the clearing started flickering.

And suddenly in the place of the clearing, stood a small fort.

Looking at it, I was still pretty underwhelmed.

"This can't be the whole thing" Apollo said, "knowing Gaea, she would've had this as the entrance. The demigod will probably be somewhere underground"

"For once brother, I agree with you" Artemis said.

"We need to scope it out first" I said, "Find out a week point in this fort, and infiltrate it"

Artemis nodded, "This place is bound to be swarming with monsters. We need to find the right way to infiltrate the building, but still kill the monsters. Escaping past them wouldn't be smart. We could be attacked from the back too"

She went silent for a moment, and then I heard a voice in my head.

_Perseus can you hear me?_

I yelped and jumped in surprise. I just heard Athena speak in my head.

_I had us all connected so that we could speak properly. Infiltrating the base will be different. Trying to fight indoors, might allow the monsters to trigger some sort of alarm._

"Ummm what exactly do we do then" Apollo replied.

_You need to bring the fight outside. If you can lure the monsters outside and take them out slowly and without the rest knowing, then you can decrease their numbers enough to slip inside the base unnoticed._

"Yes of course" Artemis cut in, "We can set up traps outside here, snare and kill the monsters quickly and then sneak in"

_Exactly. Artemis, that is your field of expertise, so I'll leave you all to it. I'll leave this mental communication link open and gather the remaining gods here. Saving the demigods are our top priority now._

With a steely glint in our eyes, we turned towards Artemis as she guided us into collecting different materials to set up the traps. With snares, nets and pits set up in different parts of the forest, we sat down, tired from the work.

I looked around, and luckily our traps were hidden well. I just hoped it would be successful.

"Rest" Artemis said, "Half an hour. We'll take the base then"

I nodded and sat down, uncapping and recapping riptide continuously. This was unlike any other quest I had ever taken part in. Well that was not completely untrue, sneaking into the Acropolis had been like this, but we had the hope on our side.

I looked to the side, and saw that Apollo looked nervous, plucking the string of his bow once in a while. The god probably never had to do things like this. He was loud and flashy. Not a spy.

Half an hour passed, and we were regenerated (Thank you immortal body).

Just in case, Apollo handed us each a piece of ambrosia and we gobbled it up.

"You guys ready?" I asked.

Artemis simply stared at the base, knives in hand, and Apollo had an arrow knocked.

_Save my son_

The gruff voice of Hephaestus came in our minds, as Apollo released his arrow, flying straight towards the main door of the base.

_**Hey peeps! How was it? This was kind of a build up chapter, but you'll see some action in the next one. Hope you guys liked the chapter. Feel free to leave any comments you have in a review and PM for any questions you may have.**_

_**Another small note, I have my finals coming up, so I probably won't be able to post the next chapter until June. But the story will continue! See you all next time!**_


	5. Infiltration

CLANG

The noise ran out sharp and clear in the quiet of the forest.

We waited with bated breath to see the outcome of Apollo's arrow. A sharp clicking noise was heard as an eye slot in the door was opened and dark red eyes glinted in the sunlight let through the door.

I turned towards the two gods beside me and watched as Artemis gave a nod. We dispersed, as had been planned earlier. I ran far to the right, hiding behind the biggest bush I can find, while Artemis leapt into the trees readying herself for an assault, while Apollo stood up from our initial hiding spot and strung another arrow.

The deep ringing sound of an arrow against the door was heard again, followed by the rustling sound of the sun god hurrying away to get into position.

Finally, this time the door creaked open, and out stepped a _dracaena_. Holding a spear in hand with a small chest plate hanging on her shoulder.

It was almost comical how unprepared she was.

She looked down and picked up the arrow fallen against the door. Thankfully Apollo didn't use any of his gold arrows so his identity would not be found. One of our only advantages was that the enemy had no knowledge of our existence, believing the remaining gods to have faded and me to have died. Unknowing of why the gods sacrificed themselves on the battlefield that one terrible day.

The _dracaena_ hissed behind her and she walked outside followed by a three more of her kind. They looked out about the forest, trying to find the source of the arrow, but found nothing. Turning around to return to their base, an arrow flew from a tree and embedded itself into one of the monster's head, disintegrating the beast before it had time to utter a sound.

Artemis had struck first blood.

The remaining _dracaenae_ turned around, eyes widening in surprise and rushed towards the door. The lead monster struck her spear against the door and shouted something to someone inside.

Immediately, out of the door poured out a battalion of monsters. Cyclops, hellhounds, empousa, they were all there. I just crossed my fingers and hoped that that was all the remaining monsters guarding the door. Luckily none of them seemed to have too much armor.

To be fair though, they didn't know we even existed.

This was the cue we had been waiting for. With the appearance of the monsters, Artemis and I jumped from our hiding place, Artemis with a bow in her hand and me with my sword. She shot an arrow that struck one of the cyclops, turning it to dust.

And I threw a rock.

Hey don't blame me. I suck with projectiles. Luckily it was enough to get the monsters' attention.

With that, we both turned tail and rushed into the forest, the monsters splitting into three groups. One following Artemis, the other following me, and five monsters guarding the door. Hopefully Apollo would take them out before they could sound any alarm.

I ran through the forest, with leaves whipping towards my face, as I heard the monsters deep in pursuit behind me. I heard a whistling sound and I lunged to the right just as an arrow raced past me.

I need to finish this fast.

I dashed towards the designated location, leaping over a pile of leaves I recognized and ran ahead, hearing the snap of the bear trap Artemis built/conjured, flowed by the roar of a few monsters.

Knowing what I had to do, I made a quick turn to the foliage on my left, glancing back to make sure that the monsters were still on my tail.

Making a fast U-turn, I doubled back towards the trap and raised my arm and slashed at the monsters stuck in the traps, satisfied when I saw the burst of familiar golden dust.

Continuing my run, I lead the monsters deeper into the forest, catching a few more on bear traps and slowly thinning down my pursuers. Finally, I reached the clearing where I turned and stood waiting for the monsters to reach me. And just as they were barreling towards me, I jumped to the right, just as I had done all those years back with the minotaur. The monsters barreled past me and into the concealed hole that had been dug, falling inside and too incapacitated to climb back up.

Sadly a few monsters close to the back of the pursuing party had slowed to a stop once they had seen the monsters ahead of them fall into the pit.

They turned towards me, a total of six monsters glaring at me. I held Riptide ready in one hand and beckoned them forward in the other, smiling.

They lunged forward. I leaned to the right, avoiding a jab from a spear and jabbed my sword forward, taking out the empousa that held the spear. I ran ahead and hit the ground ahead of the monsters rolling as I slashed my sword in an arc, injuring the legs of a few monsters. I stood up and dispatched the injured monsters and leaned back as a hellhound pounced at me, no hesitation in my eye as I stabbed in the snout.

Suddenly I felt the ground give away before me as I was lifted up in the air. A cyclops had snuck up behind me and now had a hand around my neck. I switched my sword grip in reverse and stabbed the cyclops in the stomach, causing him to drop me as I turned around and finished him off.

Standing alone in the clearing, I walked back to the pit to finish off the monsters, and I arrived to see the pit full of gold dust and silver arrows.

I turned around to see Artemis leaning against a tree, her bow in her hand, with flecks of golden dust covering her.

"You took long enough" she said impassively.

"Yeah well, I wanted to take the scenic route", I said as we headed back towards the base.

Arriving there, we saw Apollo standing at the door, clearly bored waiting for us.

Without a word from anyone, we all entered the base.

The inside looked pretty much like any old military bases from movies, with gray steel walls and overhead lighting, dim enough to make this place look really sketchy.

We slowly moved forward, careful not to make any sound. We found a dead end with an elevator, and with no other choice, we mounted the lift, weapons at the ready.

Now I have to be honest when I say that the elevator ride was very long, and I was doing nothing but piss my pants the entire time. I mean, come on! I'm a front-line fighter. I rush out against my enemies and kill as many as I can. This stealth stuff isn't for me.

The door dinged open, and in front of us stood a cyclops carrying some kind of box. Artemis lashed out and swiftly and silently ended the monster with a slice to the throat. I caught the box and looked inside and found vials of Greek fire hidden in there.

Apollo reached inside and grabbed a few vials and I took the box and hid it in a corner. Never know how much use it can be when we're trying to escape, right?

We continued forward, moving along the corridors. Luckily it wasn't too much of a maze, so it wasn't too hard not to get lost. Whenever a door was spotted, we peaked inside. Any monster inside a room was immediately met with gold and silver arrows to their heads.

_You all know the first target_ came the voice of Athena inside our heads, _You'll have to take out their communications. Iris would never let them IM, so mortal communication is their only means of communication_

We looked at each other and nodded. As much as I wanted to rush in there and break Leo out, I had to control myself. Making sure that our presence isn't known to other bases were vital, else Leo would be the only one we ever save.

Door by door we scouted out the base, looking for any clues that might give us any kind of edge. Whenever we arrived at a deserted corridor, we took out every monster in all the rooms and split up to search them. Every electronic device found was broken.

Entering one of the many rooms we had searched, I found myself looking at a drawing board. On it was a map of the world. I hoped and prayed to all remaining gods that it would be the locations of the remaining demigods, but honestly, I was clueless.

The map was…. weird. It didn't have any markings on it, but instead had writing all over it in a language I had never seen before. I shrugged and pocketed it, deciding to show it to Athena when we're back.

Checking the rest of the room, finding nothing else but a few electronics that I destroyed I went back outside. Seeing that no one had returned, I stood guard after making sure that my companions were still safe.

Moments later, Apollo reappeared from one of the doorways, followed by Artemis soon thereafter.

"Anything?" Artemis asked.

"I found a radio and a microphone sitting at one of the desks" Apollo said, "On the off chance that this is used to communicate between monster bases, I thought we could bring it back to Hephaestus and have him set up a station for us"

"Huh" I replied, stunned, "I didn't know you could think ahead that much"

Giving a half-hearted glare Apollo replied, "What about you Perce? Find anything interesting?"

I nodded, "Possibly. I got a map, but I can't decipher what's written on it"

Artemis frowned, and held out her hand. I handed her the map and she stared at it for a few seconds before her eyebrows furrowed and she thrust it back in my direction, "I don't know what it is, but it is not something we can waste time about now. I'm still slightly suspicious about why we haven't been found yet"

I shrugged and repocketed the map. "No sense thinking about any of that now huh? Let's just get on with this. I got a friend to save", a hard edge finally returning to my voice.

And so, our infiltration continued. I won't bore you with anymore details, cause for most of it, it was just kill and search.

After a point, the number of doors seemed to thin down until finally the corridor ahead of us opened up into a huge atrium. So, naturally we hid.

The large room ahead of us was ginormous. Easily about half the size of the Olympian throne room. Meaning, pretty darn huge.

And very sadly, it was absolutely filled with monsters.

"There's no way we can cross this" I whispered

"There must be some alternative way" Artemis whispered back, "Look around"

Not too long after that my eyes were drawn to a particular deformity in the ceiling.

The vents. Classic.

I silently pointed upwards to the ceiling and mouthed 'vents' to the others.

Apollo grew slightly in size until he was big enough to reach the ceiling, and slowly and quietly unscrewed the vents. He then lifted both Artemis and I into the vents, before shrinking and pulling himself in.

Huh. Gods are pretty strong.

We started crawling through the vents, hoping that it would take us where we needed to go.

I very honestly know I should've been serious during all of this, and pretty much scared, but damn! Can't lie that I didn't feel a bit like John McClane through all of this.

Hmmm right. Back to the vents. Soon enough, and painstakingly long time later, if I may add, we reached another vent in the approximate right direction we were hoping to go and hopped down.

Not knowing which was to go, we continued down one way, until we reached, you guessed it, the huge atrium again!

I really like vents.

We doubled back and kept going the other way until we reached a series of stairs. Going down, we were met with a few monsters on the way, but they were quickly dispatched. Exiting the stairwell, we were met with a blast of cold air that had me chattering my teeth.

Stepping into the cold, we were met with the same corridors we had been in; however, these were bigger. Following the path, we stopped at a turn and peeked over the side and were met with a sight we were yet to see.

Standing against the wall, facing us were two large hyperborean giants. And between them, a door.

I stared at the door, knowing in my gut what was behind it. I turned back towards the twin gods, "This might be it"

They nodded and got into position, with me standing up front and the two gods behind me with their bows drawn.

We leapt out of hiding, and charged the giants, arrows bursting forth from the twins.

I charged one of the giants, that bellowed at us and snarled as the arrows seemed to bother it. Stepping forward one of them blew its icy breath in my direction and I leapt to the side to avoid becoming a Percicle.

"Watch the breath" I yelled out, knowing that the gods probably already knew as I slashed at the giant's foot. It roared I anger as it tried to swat me. As it did, I grabbed onto the giant's hand and was lifted up into the air.

I know. Stupid right?

It raised its hand and gave me a confused look and tried to swat me with it's other hand, which I jabbed at every time it came too close. The giant was staring to look really annoyed, and so I swung myself from the hand and with Riptide, I stabbed the giant in its chest and sled downwards, creating a big cut in its chest. I landed on the ground to see ice blocks falling around me as the monster froze and crumbled.

I turned beside me to see a particularly well-placed golden arrow lodge itself in the other giant's eye, while Artemis jumped all the way to its head and stabbed it in the forehead, causing the giant to go still and crumble, similar to mine.

Apollo stared at me, "You do know how stupid you looked hanging there right?"

I groaned and walked to the door as I heard the god behind me chuckle.

I reached the door and tried to force it open, but it wouldn't budge. I frowned, scolding myself for thinking that it would be that easy.

"There must be some kind of control panel nearby" Artemis said

"Over there", Apollo said as he pointed towards a door that we had missed while rushing the giants. Walking towards it, we opened it to find telkhines sitting in chairs facing a bunch of computer screens. They jumped up in alarm from their chairs and rushed backwards, clearly having no weapons to try and fight us. They glared at me in hatred as I quickly slashed them up.

Yeah telkhines don't really like me. Or it could be because I just killed them. Who knows?

I walked towards the control panel, but however not being able to make out heads or tails of anything.

Artemis walked up to the panel and looked at it for a second and then looked back at me as if I was stupid.

She pointed at a switch that said CELL DOOR.

Did I mention that I have ADHD?

She shook her head and flipped the switch. Outside the control room, the opening of the cell door was heard and I rushed outside to see it. As I got close to the door I felt the absolutely freezing cold emanating from there. I felt immobilized by it and felt the energy leave my body. I slumped down and crawled backwards until I found the warm source of Apollo.

Praise be the sun god.

I stood back up shakily as Apollo blasted me with some warmth from his very hot (temperature wise) self.

"That….was bad" I mumbled, slowly beginning to feel my limbs again.

"Hmmm, let me get Arty to check the panel" Apollo replied.

He walked back inside, partly supporting me until I was able to walk normally again. By the time we reached the panel, my limbs seemed to work normally, thanks to Apollo's help.

"It's too cold in there" I said, "There any way to turn down the AC in there?"

Artemis looked down at the panels, studying the nobs and switches on the board. Finally, she found the right switch and turned the nob all the way down to 0.

The three of us walked back outside, waiting for a small amount of time a safe distance away to make sure what happened to me wouldn't be repeated.

After about five minutes or so, we headed inside the cell. It would look like just about any other cell I could think of, except it was still covered in ice.

And in the middle of the cell, chained in an X, was Leo Valdez.

To say the least, he didn't look good. Clearly unconscious, his head was slumped forward on his very malnutrition chest. His arms looked skinny and hung limply from the chains. His hair was unkept and long, hiding his elfish ears. Torn rags that were once clothes covered his body, not completely being able to hide the few scars that lay on his back.

I wasted no time in running and slicing the chains down with my sword. It took a few tries to break through the celestial bronze, but I was furiously hacking at it, thinking of nothing other than saving my friend.

The chains finally gave away, and Apollo rushed forward to catch him before he could hit the floor.

He carried him outside and laid the son of Hephaestus on the floor. Artemis uncapped a small bottle of nectar and dribbled it into his mouth. She stepped aside and allowed the god od healing to crouch beside him as he lay his hands on the barely moving chest. A warm glow emitted from Apollo's hands as he worked his godly healing on the frail demigod.

Moments later, Apollo stepped back from Leo, gobbling up a piece of ambrosia to retain his energy, as Leo's eyes slowly fluttered open.

He groaned as he blinked his unfocused eyes, clearly trying to understand what was going on around him. I can't really blame him though. He's been in prison for over seven years now. Anything but his cell was probably unexperienced for him.

"P-Percy?" he asked softly.

I smiled, "Yeah it's me man"

However, instead of relief on his face, I saw a frown, "So this is your new trick huh? Well it won't work on me!" he started shouting towards the ceiling, "You can't hurt me anymore you giant freak. Much less by showing me my dead friend…."

He was cut off as Apollo lurched towards him and slammed his hand over Leo's mouth to keep him quiet, muffling the noises coming from Leo.

Artemis was glaring at him with a clear message to shut up. Looking at the terrifying goddess in front of him he shut up.

I knelt down in front of him, "Leo, this isn't a dream" I said softly, "Look, there's too much to explain right now, and not much time to do it. I promise that we're real, and we're here to get you out"

Leo stared at me for a second and shook his head, "I can't know that. For all I know it's just that bastard getting in my head again"

"Leo look at me", I said with a hard tone in my voice, "I swear on the River Styx that it really is me. You have nothing to worry about"

I saw his eyes soften, and all of a sudden, he grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. I felt tears leak down onto my back as I hugged the only demigod I had seen in seven years. It was too saddening to see what had happened to the fun loving and chirpy guy I knew.

I helped him up and saw him glance towards the twins. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a minute, "Wait have I met you two before?" until suddenly his eyes widened, "Oh crap. Lady Artemis, Lord Apollo"

"Leo Valdez" Artemis said, "It is good to see that you are fine. But introductions can come later. We need to get out of here as soon as we can"

We nodded and stood up, helping a very week Leo back to his feet. Apollo handed him the canteen on nectar and Leo downed it all in one gulp. I was scared for a minute, afraid of what the overdose of nectar would do to him until I remembered that he too was made immortal.

He seemed to regain much of his energy, enough to walk by himself. Surprising what some good nectar can do to you.

Leo gave a small grin, "Haven't felt this good in ages. That freaking cold kept me practically paralyzed. Couldn't even form some fire in there. Probably why they kept me in those conditions in the first place"

"Who were you talking to before?" I asked, "The one you were shouting at when you thought it was all a dream"

His eyes darkened suddenly until he spat out, "My jailer. That bastard Mimas"

Apollo's eyes widened in understanding, "The anti-Hephaestus. A jailer perfectly tailored for the prisoner"

Leo nodded, "Forget about him for now. Let's just get the hell outta this place"

We started to head on back, until Artemis stopped in front of the control panels from earlier, "We can't leave this intact. They might use it somehow to communicate"

Apollo nodded and reached inside his bag and retrieved a vial of Greek fire and tossed it inside the room. Immediately the familiar green fire roared to life and consumed everything in the room.

As soon as the Greek fire touched the panels however, the screech of an alarm was heard.

Stupid, stupid! Of course, they'd have an alarm system connected to the controls of the cell of the only damn prisoner in this entire fortress!

Wasting no more time, we dashed towards the exit and rushed up the stairs, the continuous wailing of the siren blaring in our ears. As soon as we reached the top of the stairs, we were swarmed by monsters.

We jumped into action, Riptide springing to life in my arms as I jumped into the monsters, my sword a deadly arc to any in my way. Besides me I saw Artemis lashing out with her hunting knives and Apollo with a flaming sword in his hands. I ever surprisingly saw Leo with his hands on fire, keeping monsters away from him, and disintegrating the few that got too close to him.

We worked our way through the swarm of monsters and continued our run towards the exit. Groups of monsters would keep intercepting us, forcing us to fight our way through, slowing us down. Without knowing, there seemed to be a sudden change in scenery around us. Instead of the constrained corridors we were in the large atrium from before.

"So, Leo" boomed a voice, "You've finally managed to escape is it?"

I turned towards the direction of Leo's murderous gaze and saw the giant looming in front of me. He stood tall, like every other giant I had seen, with a cold smirk on his face.

Mimas gave a gruesome smile, "And you've brought some friends for me to play with"

**Ummm. Don't know what to say. Guess I'll just say I'm sorry I was gone for so long? Tried to make this chapter longer to make up for it. Anyway, I'm back now, and hopefully this chapter can get me back to my writing. As I said earlier I have the general idea of the story in my head, and a ending to work towards, but it's gonna take me some time to work out the specifics, but I'll try to at least upload sooner. Anyway, how was the chapter? It was my first attempt at any sort of action, so let me know what you thought of it. Guess I'll see you guys next time!**


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